Watts S. Humphrey (July 4, 1927 – October 28, 2010) was an American pioneer in
software engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development.
A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...
who was called the "father of
software quality
In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions:
* Software functional quality reflects how well it complies with or conforms to a given design, based on functional requirements or specification ...
."
Biography
Watts Humphrey (whose grandfather and father also had the same name) was born in
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...
on July 4, 1927.
His uncle was US Secretary of the Treasury
George M. Humphrey
George Magoffin Humphrey (March 8, 1890January 20, 1970) was an American lawyer, businessman and banker. He served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Early life
Humphrey was born on March 8, 1 ...
.
In 1944, he graduated from high school and served in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
Despite
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
, he received a bachelor of science in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, a master of science in physics from
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...
physics department, and a master of business administration from the
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...
.
In 1953 he went to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and worked at
Sylvania Labs.
In 1959 he joined
IBM.
In the late 1960s, Humphrey headed the IBM software team that introduced the first
software license
A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software. Under United States copyright law, all software is copyright protected, in both source ...
. Humphrey was a vice president at IBM.
In the 1980s at the
Software Engineering Institute
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is an American research and development center headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its activities cover cybersecurity, software assurance, software engineering and acquisition, and component capabil ...
(SEI) at
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
Humphrey founded the Software Process Program, and served as director of that program from 1986 until the early 1990s. This program was aimed at understanding and managing the
software engineering process
In software engineering, a software development process is a process of dividing software development work into smaller, parallel, or sequential steps or sub-processes to improve design, product management. It is also known as a software devel ...
because this is where big and small organizations or individuals encounter the most serious difficulties and where, thereafter, lies the best opportunity for significant improvement.
The program resulted in the development of the
Capability Maturity Model The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a development model created in 1986 after a study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. The term "maturity" relates to the degree of ...
, published in 1989 in Humphrey's "''Managing the Software Process''" and inspired the later development of the
personal software process (PSP) and the
team software process
In combination with the personal software process (PSP), the team software process (TSP) provides a defined operational process framework that is designed to help teams of managers and engineers organize projects and produce software for
products ...
(TSP) concepts.
Humphrey received an honorary doctor of software engineering from the
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1998.
The Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, India was named after him in 2000.
In 2003, Humphrey was awarded the
National Medal of Technology
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...
.
Humphrey became a fellow of the SEI and of the
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
in 2008.
[
]
See also
*
Personal software process (PSP)
*
Software quality
In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions:
* Software functional quality reflects how well it complies with or conforms to a given design, based on functional requirements or specification ...
*
Team software process
In combination with the personal software process (PSP), the team software process (TSP) provides a defined operational process framework that is designed to help teams of managers and engineers organize projects and produce software for
products ...
(TSP)
Publications
Humphrey is the author of several books, including
* 2011. ''Leadership, Teamwork, and Trust: Building a Competitive Software Capability''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 2010. ''Reflections on Management: How to Manage Your Software Projects, Your Teams, Your Boss, and Yourself''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 2006. ''TSP, Coaching Development Teams''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 2006. ''TSP, Leading a Development Team''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 2005. ''PSP, A Self-Improvement Process for Software Engineers''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 2001. ''Winning with Software: An Executive Strategy''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1999. ''Introduction to the Team Software Process''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1997. ''Introduction to the Personal Software Process''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1996. ''Managing Technical People - Innovation, Teamwork and Software Process''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1995. ''A Discipline for Software Engineering''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1989. ''Managing the Software Process''. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
* 1958. ''Switching Circuits with Computer Applications''. McGraw-Hill Book Company
References
External links
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituaryThe Watts New? Collection: Columns by the SEI's Watts Humphrey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Watts
1927 births
Carnegie Mellon University faculty
IBM employees
2010 deaths
People in information technology
Quality experts
American software engineers
University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Illinois Institute of Technology alumni
National Medal of Technology recipients
Writers from Illinois